Can you align time on a colon using tabs within a table

[ambert62350533]

Is it possible to set up tabs within the cell of a table in order to align times by their colon? I've attached an image. Right now I have the times centered, but I think it would be easier to read if the times were aligned by the colons. Any suggestions?

[Barb Binder]

Sure. Add a decimal tab stop and change Align On to a colon.

But you do need a leading tab in front of the times.

[Tactical_Pencil]

this is too genius! I love simple solutions to a complex questions!

[jane-e]

One way is to use tabs. I hope someone else has another way using GREP.

Align to a decimal tab

Align on: to a colon

Press tab character at start of each line (hard or soft return)

[winterm · Accepted solution]

Actually, there's no need to enter tabs at the beginning of each line. Just define tabs in ParaStyle (Use Barb's or Jane's suggestion) and apply that style to the cells with timing:

Note the columns in the last cell are not aligned because there is no ParaEnd mark after 10:30-.

Insert it - and columns will align (because PStyle is applied). No need for actual tabs!

Edit: Argh, I mean colon, not column...

[ambert62350533]

Thank you to everyone who answered my question. I'm feeling kind of silly after realizing how easy that was. All suggestions work well.

I actually have never been comfortable with Paragraph styles, so I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to figure it out, but the screen shots were very helpful. Thank you all!

[jane-e]

Never feel silly, Amber—this is not as well known as you might think.

And I forgot that you don't need the tab itself, although I was doing it in Word years before InDesign was born!

[Barb Binder]

We love to help!